Improvement in mail-bag cranes



J. A. BoALs,

MAIL-BAG cums. No.179,511. Patented July 4,1876.

WITNESSES: I

N-PETERS. PHOTO-UTHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D, C

UNITED STATES PATENT JAMES A. BOALS, OF DINSMORE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAIL-BAG CRANES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 179,511, dated July 4, 1876; application filed April 25, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J. A. BOALS, of Dinsmore, county of Washington, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and Improved Mail-Bag Crane, of which the following is a specification:

My invention consists of acrane for holding mail-bags for the catcher of a running train, contrived so that the arms which hold the bag will drop out of the way of other passing trains and hang by the post as soon as the bag is taken off by the catcher.

The drawing is a side elevation of my improved mail-bag crane.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts.

The arms A and B are pivoted to the post at O. The upper arm has a brace, D, which is hooked onto the stud E, so that it can be readily thrown off to let the arm fall. This arm supports the bag F, and the bag holds up the other arm, so that it falls as soon as the bag is taken off, and in its fall its end Gr strikes the lower end H of the brace and lifts it oil the stud E, so that it falls by the side of the crane-post, thus being removed out of the way of other trains without any care by the attendant.

These cranes, as heretofore made, being left standing, sometimes do great injury to persons on the top of freight-trains.

The pins I, on which the bag is hung, have a rubber spring, J, which holds them at right angles to the track until the catcher touches the bag, and thus allows them to turn by the force of the catcher around parallel with the track, so that the bag will slide off with the catcher. This is to prevent the wind-currents set in motion by the train from blowing the bag 01f, as frequently happens with the ordinary crane.

2. The springs J, combined with the turning pins I, substantially as specified.

3. The combination of springs J with the turning pins I and the keepers. K, substantially as specified.

JAMES A. BOALS.

Witnesses:

J. P. KLEIN, SAMUEL MCGOUGH.

FFICE. 

